XC unbeatable in regular season

2011 SEASON RECAP: The Alaska Anchorage men’s and women’s cross country running teams completed with regular season with a perfect 12 team victories before finishing sixth on the women’s side and eighth on the men’s side at the 2011 NCAA Div. II Championships for the second straight season ... combined, UAA received four All-America honors ... both squads swept the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships and NCAA Div. II West Region Championships for the second consecutive year, while landing 12 on the All-West Region team and eight on the All-Conference team ... individually, senior Ruth Keino, who completed the regular season undefeated, and junior Micah Chelimo were each named the West Region and GNAC Female and Male Runners of the Year, respectively ... for the second straight year, head coach Michael Friess swept the men’s and women’s West Region and GNAC Coach of the Year honors.

2011 UAA CROSS COUNTRY RESULTSDATE MEET RESULT
Sept. 1 UAA INVITEL (5K) M-1st, W-1st
Sept. 3 Hawaii Pacific Invite M-1st, W-1st
Sept. 10 Hawaii Big Wave Invite M-1st, W-1st
Oct. 8 Western Classic Invite M-1st, W-1st
Oct. 22 GNAC Championships M-1st, W-1st
Nov. 5 NCAA Div. II West Regional Champ. M-1st, W-1st
Nov. 19 NCAA Div. II Champ. M-8th, W-6th
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2011 historic cross country season came to an end with the women’s squad finishing sixth and the men’s team eighth at the 2011 NCAA Div. II Cross Country Championships on Nov. 19 at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex in Spokane, Wash. ... following an undefeated regular season, the women’s team finished with a program-best 152 points at NCAAs, good for sixth place for the second straight year ... also undefeated throughout the year, the men’s team tied its program-high eighth-place showing from 2010 with 290 points ... the UAA women, who were ranked No. 4 going into the Championships, landed a program-best three Seawolves on the All-America team, while the lone Seawolf on the men’s team to earn All-America honors was junior Micah Chelimo ... leading with a team-high 9th-place finish was senior Ruth Keino, while junior Miriam Kipng’eno (32nd) and sophomore Ivy O’Guinn (33rd) also collected All-America accolades.

UAA’S HISTORY AT NATIONALS: UAA has been involved in 14 team competitions and has sent three individuals to Div. II Nationals since 2000 ... on the men’s side, head coach Michael Friess has qualified 8 teams, with a top team placing of 8th in 2010 and 2011 ... individually, Tobias Schwoerer became the first Seawolf to compete at a cross country Nationals when he qualified in 2000 ... Schwoerer went on to make two more appearances at the national level, including a 35th place in 2001, giving him All-American status ... current graduate assistant David Kiplagat leads UAA with four NCAA appearances, while senior Marko Cheseto has the highest individual finish at 9th (2008) ... junior Micah Chelimo has led the men’s squad for a program-best three seasons at the NCAAs, with his highest placing of 15th coming this season ... on the women’s side, the Seawolves posted UAA’s best-ever finish in 2009 (5th) ... four Seawolves have earned All-America honors – Elizabeth Chepkosgei (2008), Ruth Keino (2010, 2009, 2011), Miriam Kipng’eno (2010, 2009, 2011) and Ivy O’Guinn (2011) ... Keino holds the highest placing at 7th, accomplished in 2010 ... the 2005 Nationals in Chino, Calif., marked the first time that both teams qualified in the same season, an occurance that has repeated in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

AWARDS & HONORS: The Seawolves wrapped up the 2011 slate with a record number of accolades, including a program-best three All-America honors on the women’s side and a combined 12 on the All-West Region team ... eight Seawolves landed on the All-GNAC team, the most since 2009, while eight were named to the GNAC All-Academic team, the most since 2007 ... senior Ruth Keino became the first UAA woman to win a GNAC and West Region crown, sweeping the GNAC and West Region Female Athlete of the Year honors ... joining Keino with the same distinction was junior Micah Chelimo on the men’s side ... 22nd-year head coach Michael Friess earned his 11th and 12th GNAC Coach of the Year honors, while claiming his 4th and 5th West Region Coach of the Year awards ... rookies Dylan Anthony and Bryn Haebe collected the GNAC’s Freshman of the Year honors.

USTFCCCA POLL: The 6th-place finish for the UAA women at the NCAAs and a 8th-place showing for the men’s team marked the final U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association ranking of 2011 ... after the Seawolves swept the NCAA Div. II West Region on Nov. 5, the women’s team advanced three positions to No. 4, while the men’s squad jumped from eleventh to a program-best fifth ... the UAA women’s team’s No. 4 position is the highest of the season and best since the Seawolves were ranked the same in Week 7 of 2010 ... the UAA women’s team has been ranked in the top 10 for 32 consecutive weeks since ascending to ninth in the final poll of 2008 ... the No. 5 ranking on Nov. 9 was a program-high for the men’s team and the best since being polled at No. 6 in Week 9 of 2010 ... the men’s team has been nationally ranked every week since the start of the 2008 season.

NCAA WEST REGION RECAP: Sparked by individual titles by senior Ruth Keino and junior Micah Chelimo, the Seawolves stayed undefeated on the season, sweeping the 2011 NCAA Div. II West Region Championships Nov. 5 in Spokane, Wash. ... the women’s team won with 27 points over Chico State, while the men’s team posted 37 points for a two-point victory over the Wildcats ... overall the Seawolves placed 12 runners in the top 25 for All-West Region honors ... Keino won the women’s race by 27 seconds, while Chelimo edged his Chico State foe by one second at the finish line.

GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP: Led by individual wins by senior Ruth Keino and junior Micah Chelimo, the UAA men’s and women’s cross country teams swept the 11th annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships for the second consecutive year on Oct. 22 ... the two-time defending champion UAA women’s squad posted 31 points in the victory over Simon Fraser (76 points) and Western Washington (87), which finished second and third, respectively ... the men’s team placed all five scorers in the top 10 for a men’s GNAC-record 27 points ... the Seawolves bested WWU (63), Western Oregon (80), Northwest Nazarene (139) and Saint Martin’s (151) for their fifth GNAC title and sixth overall ... Keino, from Kapcheno, Kenya, raced to UAA’s first individual title ever on the women’s side with a time of 21 minutes, 26 seconds in the 6K race ... claiming her third all-conference honor was junior Miriam Kipng’eno, who crossed the finish line at 22:12 for third place ... finishing fourth after missing the majority of the season was sophomore Ivy O’Guinn at 22:24 ... Chelimo garnered his first individual league title with a time of 24:24 on the 8K course ... junior Alfred Kangogo picked up his third career all-conference award with a fourth-place finish, clocking in at 25:13, while senior Yonatan Yilma finished sixth at 25:18.